Resilient wheel.



ROBERT J'. HUGHES, OF HOUSTON, TEXAS.

RESILIENT WHEEL.

` Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 31, 1907. Serial No. l09,716.

Patented Mar. it, iti-i3.

T 0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known -that LvRoBER'r J. HUGHES, citizen of the United States, residing at Houston, in the county of Harris and State of Texas, have iniented certain new and useful Improvements in Resilient Wheels, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to resilient wheels and has for its object the provision of a very simple, durable and etiicient construction of resilient wheel which is designed to do away with the cushion or pneumatic tires usually employed to obtain the desired resiliency, and the invention consists in the arrangement of parts and details of construction hereinafter more fully described and set forth in the appended claims.

Two forms of my invent-ion are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawingswhereim Figure l is a side elevation of a portion of the rim of a wheel with my resilient tire applied thereto. Fig'. 2 is an enlarged cross section on the line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a portion of a wheel rim and showing a modied form of resilient tire ap-plied thereto.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring particularly to Figs. lv and 2, 2 designates a wheelfelly of any suitable character and forming a portion of a wheel. Mounted upon the felly and resting solidly thereagainst are a plurality of resilient ele'- ments formed of elastic blocks 3 preferably of rubber. These blocks lit-one against the other around the tire and the outer face of each block is beveled inward and outward to the middle plane of the block. The side faces of the bloc-ks are also slightl beveled.

Resting upon the outer V-shape lfaces of the blocks 3 are a plurality of tread blocks 5 of any suitable relatively hard material designed to form the outer face of the wheel.

These tread blocks are formedon their in-I ner faces with tl-shaped sockets or groovesk plates 6. These side plates are bolted asat 7 to the felly and at theirupper ends are tread blocks.

provided with inturned flanges engaging in recesses 8 formed in the side faces of the tread blocks. The plates 6 are annular in form and extend entirely around the felly.l while the tread blocks as previously stated are sectional. The recesses 8 are considerably deeper than the thickness of the flanged portions of the'plates 6 so las to' permit the tread blocks to be forced inward relative to the plates 6 and against the elasticity of the blocks 3. Bolts 7a pass through the plates G and through the tread blocks, the plates t3 being radially slotted as at 9 to permit these bolts to have a radial movement relative to the plates 6 and to move with the elastic blocks 3. In order to further hold the tread blocks 5 upon the faces of the elastic blocks 3 and yet permit of free movement of the elastic blocks, I provide'the radially extending bolts l0 which at their outer ends are embedded or otherwise attached lto the tread blocks and which extend radially through the elastic members 3 and through the telly 2. ,These bolt-s are provided on their ends with the nuts l1. It will be noted that when the tread blocks are forced inward against the elasticity of the blocks 3, the bolts will shift'inward relative to the wheel rim and relative to the At the same time these bolts will act to assist the plates 6 in holding the tread blocks in place. The tread blocks may either have a smooth'surface or they may have teeth formed by'inserts 12 as shown in Fig. l. The tread blocks are beveled at their .ends as at 18, the said ends being par'- allel to each other so that 'when the'tread blocks are'in position, the end of one tread block will extend beneath the overhanging end of the next adjacent block. 'The inclined end faces of the. tread blocks` are ies wheelrim or telly and 15 a transverse series of resilient blocks. Each of these blocks has outwardly diverging sides so that when the blocks are placed together in transverse series across the wheel rim outwardly, spaces will be left between the blocks, these spaces being designated 16. It will be seen that the bases of the blocks bear against each other but that the upper ends of the blocks are tree and entirely separated from each other. The outer faces of the blocks are convex. Resting upon the outer faces of the blocks are a plurality of tire sections or tread sections 17 of relatively hard material, the inner faces of these tread sections being concavely recessed so as to lit. upon and bear firmly against the resilient members 15. It will be seen that the tread sections are arranged in transverse series and that each of the tread sections in any transverse series are independent of the next adjacent tread sec` tion and that the same description applies to the resilient blocks 15, these blocks being independent with' relation to the other blocks of the series. In order to hold the tread sections and resilient members in place, I provide the radially extending bolts 18 which are screwed into the tread sect-ions, ext-end loosely tl'n'ough the resilient members 15 and through the wheel rim, being provided on their inner ends with the nuts 19,

these bolts 18 passing loosely through the resilient members and loosely through the rim so as not to impede the free radial movement of the tread blocks and the elastic action of the resilient blocks. For the purpose ot holding the tread blocks and resilient blocks in place and preventing any lateral displacement of these blocks, I provide the annular plates 2O which are-disposed on opposite sides ot the tire and which are bolted to the rim or telly 14 by transverse bolts 2l which extend entirely through the telly. The outer ends ot' the plates Q0 are inwardly tianged as at 22 and engage in lateral recesses 2? formed in the sides of the outer tread blocks, these recesses being ot such radial depth as to permit the tread blocks to have tree radial movement independentot' the side plates 20. ln order to hold the outer margins of the side plates from movement, I provide the transversely extending bolts Q4 which pass through the elastic members 15. The side plates are lradially slotted to permit these bolts 24 to have radial movement. The radially slotted side plates used in this construction are the same as those heretofore described with reference to Figs. 1 and Q.

It is seen that in the form ottire last described, there are a plurality of series ot cushioning blocks 15, these blocks being spaced from each other at their upper portions tov permit compression of the blocks. By providing the converging sides to the blocks, a space is left between the upper portions of the blocks 15 while the bases of the blocks are in contact with each other, this preventing any side movement of the blocks while permitting the blocks to be compressed. It may be noted here that the contacting faces of the tread blocks and resilient members are transversely recessed so that the members tit upon'each other. This tends to prevent transverse shitting ot the tread blocks relative to the resilient members, thus loosening the lateral strain on the side plates. The transverse thrust upon the outer segmental tire will be transmitted to the intermediate resilient member and is thus resisted and the strain thus to a considerable extent taken away from the side plates. Furthermore, the combination ot the side plates, the radial bolts and the transverse bolts acts to bind all these parts together so that transverse strain is counteracted. It may be further noted that in the construction shown in Fig. 3, the provision of a transverse series of tread blocks and a transverse series of resilient members gives tar greater cushioning etlect to the wheel than would be the case did the tread blocks and resilient members extend entirely across the tace of the wheel. Furthermore, it permits the parts being more readily replaced in case the tread blocks are worn or the resilient members inany way damaged.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a resilient wheel, the combination of a rim, a plurality ot resilient members supported on the rim, a vplurality ot tire sections supported on the resilient members, a radial bolt extending inwardly from each of the tire sections and rigidly attached thereto, said bolts passing freely through .the resilient members and through the rim and being provided on their inside ends with nuts, annular side plates mounted on the rim and extending outward beyond the resilient members, the outer margins of the side plates being provided with inwardly extending portions having sliding engagement with the 'tire sections, said side plates being provided with radially elongated bolt openings, and transverse bolts passing through the resilient members and through said bolt openings and holding the resilient members in engagement with the side plates.

2. ln a wheel, the combination of a rim, a plurality ot' resilient blocks supported in transverse series on the rim, said blocks each having a rounded outer face, a plurality ot' series of tire sections supported on the blocks, each series composed of a plurality of segmental sections, each section having parallel inclined ends adapted to have sliding engagement with the inclined ends ot contiguous sections, a radial bolt extending inf wardly from each of the segmental sections tea und passing through the resilient blocks and rim, and transverse bolts passing through Athroligh the rim and there provided with a the resilient blocks and engaging said plates. 10

nut. said bolts having sliding engagement In testimony whereof I aflix my signature with the resllient blocks and run, plates 1n presence of two witnesses.

mounted on the sides of the riin, having in ROBERT J. HUGHES.- L. s] wardly turned` flanges slidingly engaging Witnesses:

with, the outer tire sections, transverse bolts f FRANK THOMAS,

holding said plates in engagement- With the CHAS. L. MICHAEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissione): Patents, Washington, D. 0., 

